Golisano's 5 Point Plan for a Responsible New York

Tom Golisano, the billionaire political guru of Western NY has created a PAC that will be distributing money all throughout NY this cycle based on the following 5 principles:


■ Property tax reform.

■ A responsible budgetary process.

■ Campaign and election reform.

■ Ending unfunded mandates.

■ Government transparency.


This is great news to us... we here at UGOB think that those are fine principles to commit to and build support for. That is why today the UpState Good Old Boys are endorsing Golisano's vision for a Responsible New York, which is also the name of his new PAC.


Too bad for Darrel Aubertine that he doesn't fit the bill on any of these measures.

First off, David Renzi, his opponent, committed himself to a property tax reform publicly while Aubertine stood silent.

As for responsible budgetary processes, we never saw Darrel do much of anything in the Assembly to address the issue, except for doing his part to commit to continuing the unfunded mandates dilemma facing the NY State and the federal government.

Then comes campaign/election reform... here is where Darrel stood silently as the leader of his party, Barack Obama, flip-flopped on his promise to take public financing for the presidential election. We called him to task on that issue several days ago and got no response. Then again why would he respond when the mainstream media fails to ask the tough questions. Darrel, do you support Senator Obama's position to forgo public financing for the general election and ruin any chance of meaningful future election reform? Someone should ask him that flat out. He doesn't have a good answer. Just look at how much money he took from Albany for his special election -- he has been paying those favors back for some time now and will continue to pay them back until he gets called to task.

On the issue of ending unfunded mandates Darrel gets an F (minus). We don't even need to get into the mess he and his party have created for unfunded mandates in state government. He is an accomplice of the worse kind as far as unfunded mandates go in Albany.

Last, we come to government transparency... well Darrel, you hired your sister (illegally) for your government office. That moment really brought out the nepotism in you. Then you lied about being offered the NYPA job by Governor Paterson. Darrel does not past the smell test on any of these issues.

Mr. Golisano, with that said, we endorse your plan and we hope you look straight past Mr. Aubertine with your 5 million plus bankroll if you really hope to fix state government in New York and correct these obvious problems in our government. Thank you for your service and commitment, please don't let us down. The people are counting on you!

Obama & Aubertine on Campaign Finance Reform: Too Weak To Change America

This week Senator Obama broke his word and he has chosen to forgo public finance for the general election. Obama is the first presidential nominee to deny public financing since Watergate. It was an interesting political move for Obama, and surprisingly much criticism was leveled by the mainstream media against their liberal idol. Obama’s decision will be sure to have national political repercussions, but it will also directly affect New York State and local politicos like Senator Darrel Aubertine.

As you may know, a number of New York government groups are calling for reform of the state’s campaign finance laws. Those groups include: the League of Women Voters of New York State, the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause.
Several days ago Tom Wanamaker of the Watertown Daily Times wrote,

“In a recent press conference, Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State, said that two bills recently proposed by Gov. David A. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, are meaningless.

‘These are 'cover your butt' measures,’ Ms. Bartoletti said. ‘They would be serious proposals had they been raised in January. But there's been none of what passes for negotiation in Albany. They have no chance of passage.’

Thus, she said, the League decided to make public its proposal to highlight the need for major reform in how the political campaigns in New York are funded.”

Even on Meet the Press today, U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) acknowledged that any chance at meaningful campaign finance reform went down the drain with Obama’s latest flip on the public financing system. So now that Senator Obama has ruined any real chance at reform, it will be interesting to see if either of these three groups listed above will stick up for real reform and call Obama to task for his latest Machiavellian maneuver.

What is even more interesting will be Senator Darrel Aubertine’s reaction to this stunt. Will these New York groups call on Aubertine to call for real reform and oppose Obama on forgoing the public finance system he agreed to several months back.

If Aubertine refuses or stays silent on this issue, it only makes him look like a follower within the Democratic Party, too weak and unprepared to call for real change in our political system. Then again, it wouldn’t be news to the Good Old Boys that Aubertine is unwilling to challenge his party or Barack Obama. We have claimed all along that Aubertine is just a poser for bipartisanship in Albany. We all know that Aubertine is just another politician beholden to the interests of downstate NY.

Meanwhile, Senator John McCain risked his political career to offer real bipartisan reform in national politics by working with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform.